Princess has become a 2nd rate cruise line!

[stellalimelight]

No, I'm really saying to let me decide if I want my tip added to my account instead of adding it and requiring me to stand in line (and I didn't indicate that this had to be done on the last day) to have it removed. [ If you are going to comment on my remarks you can at least read them.] It allows me to decide how the tip is paid and if I choose to have them add it, then it is as automatic as it has to be. I can't think of any reasonable accounting requirement to post a charge that is going to be removed. Princess may not want to waste paper and ink but they are effectively doing just that. Never underestimate the ability of even the largest corporations to do things inefficiently. :)

 

I have worked over the years for different large companies with different accounting programs, i.e airline, convention services, cellular company, and unfortunately some of the debit/credit issues are built into the computer system. Remember, unlike personal or small business pc's, you can't throw the baby out with the bath water, they have to build onto the existing program. For large companies, this is how they keep track of the amount of credits they are giving. In time, if more people are getting free internet due to their status of the Captains club, they will eventually build a new system to eliminate this problem. Also since Carnival now owns several cruise lines, it can take years to intergrate several computer systems, which in turn will make this issue go away.

 

With years of customer service experience behind me, I can say that I always tried to go the extra mile for people, but not all people are that way. And remember they are always going to be times when there will be lines, which is unfortunate. I too would have found a time when it wasn't as crowded, if waiting in line is bothersome.

 

My favorite airline story was of a man who was upset that the flight he was on was cancelled. He screamed at me it was all my fault. I told him he was absolutely right. With a smile on my face, I said " I got up this morning and said, how can I piss off 100 people? I know I will cancel the flight!" He became embarassed and laughed because he knew that haveing the flight cancel wasn't serving me any purpose....Just a thought

[CruiseAholic]

Somehow, it is my opinion, that we are not getting the full story from Sue K, and anything stated will be distorted.

 

She states that the Internet charges were not deducted, things can happen however, the charge shows up on the Account and then is deducted. I suspect that the deduction was never noticed. Upon mentioning it to the staff, it would have been effortless for them to notice that she was Platinum and hence charges deducted.

 

She mentions that they missed the first day of the cruise. Many times, I've been on deck as passengers are arriving at late hours, essentially, missing the first day. However if they are on board BEFORE midnight, they were on the first day.

 

As far as the 'gifts' supposedly given, been on 34 Princess cruises, haven't gotten one!

[lkmamom]

We have just returned from our Golden cruise, and I must say that this was our very best cruise ever!!!! I feel that Princess is really listening ( at least they are on the Golden:) ). The staff could not have been more caring and truly wanting this to be each cruiser's BEST cruise. They are listening, I saw a lot of things that people were complaining about worked on. They cannot change everything for everyone, but they really are listening and I am a firm believer that these boards are truly looked at!If you have specific complaints, please let Princess know. I really believe that if it can possibly be changed, they will try.

Linda

[coiran]

I think that it would be in th OP's best interest not to cruise Princess anymore and be done with the whole matter!

 

Ron

[lesharona]

Sorry to hear about your problems with Princess.

We too, had some things on our last cruise that dampened our enthusiasm

regarding our favorite cruiseline.

The bottom line is no cruise line is perfect, and there are always going to

be a few people who encounter situations that color their opinion of that

cruiseline, in a not so favorable light.

In our case we decided to forgive them and book another cruise.

[JohnR49er]

I'll be on the Coral August 13th. I haven't been on a Princess cruise in 3 years. I'm gonna bet that its still gonna be a lot better than being at work..................................

[Toto2Kansas]

If anyone receives the letter by email the OP is sending to Princess, could you please post the name of the ship and itineary. This post now has me wondering and I sure would like to know all of the facts instead just a few of them. Thanks!

(Hey JohnR49er-How's it going? Didn't expect to see you here!) :D

[waterrats]

Consider me a 2nd rate cruiser. Sue, I am sorry you went through all of this on a cruise. Lets hope when you jump ship to another cruiseline that you don't experience that same. There aren't that many cheaper cruiselines out there. Since you don't want to cruise Princess anymore, that also rules out Carnival. Not many cheap ones left.

 

For me, we have been on two cruises (DW has been on 3) and we have had no billing or service problems. Lucky us I guess.

[mii]

If anyone receives the letter by email the OP is sending to Princess, could you please post the name of the ship and itineary. This post now has me wondering and I sure would like to know all of the facts instead just a few of them. Thanks!

(Hey JohnR49er-How's it going? Didn't expect to see you here!) :D

 

Toto the OP said that this cruise was to the Greek Isles so looked it up in Princess site and found that the Grand goes there. There is also a thread on page 1 named "Live from the Grand ' Greek Isles" or something like that.

 

Marilyn

[Toto2Kansas]

Toto the OP said that this cruise was to the Greek Isles so looked it up in Princess site and found that the Grand goes there.

 

Marilyn

Thanks, now that really does surprise me after sailing on the Grand twice. Maybe the OP is used to smaller more intimate ships and didn't like the masses that the Grand Class have on them. I know there are some that really do not like the Grand Class ships, believe it or not. :eek:

[T_Bird]

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_Bird

What is RCCL's new pricing policy?

 

 

I am not Coral, but I can answer that question. NO MORE DISOUNTING!

 

You can book direct through the cruise line or through a TA and the price will be virtually the same.

 

Ahhhhh... Thanks Toto! :rolleyes:

[Kruznut]

Toto, I don't believe that we have all of the facts either. I do believe as I stated before, that there are at least two sides to every story and the only one we've heard is that of the OP. I took my whole family cruising on the Grand and I must say a great time was had by all. I know that things can and do go wrong sometimes, but that's all a part of life period and not just limited to cruising. When my children were growing up, I tried to teach them that life might deal you a terrible hand, but how you choose to handle it will make all the difference in the world. You can handle it in a positive way or negative way. I try very hard to lean toward the positive. Again, just my humble two cents.

[travelingduo]

All one has to do is think about their last airline flight and it is obvious how the travel industry has changed. Now you have to pay $5 for a snack and one is even eliminating peanuts! We have sailed on more than 35 cruises (and we are not old -- just 56 and 60). In the old days, the chefs stood on the deck and picked out the fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish! Those days are gone forever. Cruising is now a mass market business. All the cruise lines have cut back and ration out quality. If you want a meal on an airline, fly first class. If you want superior food, service, and ammenities then I am afraid you need to book on Seaborn, Silversea, Crystal, etc. But you will pay a whole lot more than Princess! If you want to smell the salt air, truly relax and be pampered a whole lot more than at home, bon voyage! As it has been said many times before, a day at sea beats a day at work.:)

[LARGIN]

Still waiting for the email containing the OP's letter to Princess.. :rolleyes:

[Northender]

Largin, don't hold your breath :D I think the OP started off disappointed in Princess because of the flights and it continued to go downhill from there. No matter what happened, it was just not going to be the best trip ever. I am not saying she didn't have a complaint on a couple of items, but the food thing really threw me.

I dunno, I guess we have had a problem or two along the way with Princess, but for the life of me, I can't remember anything that couldn't be chalked up to "so what - life is too short" :)

 

At this point in my life, it Princess was giving out those glasses, etc., I would be throwing them out anyway. :eek:

[coiran]

If Princess is a second class cruise line - I am proud and happy to be a second class citizen of this great country.

 

Ron

[maucat]

Can you blame someone for only posting once if the minute they dare to open their mouth they are shot down in flames? Each bad experience, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and SueK's negative comments have been replied to with equally negative comments. Everyone who posts on these boards is entitled to an opinion whether we personally agree with it or not. Go on now, have a go at me. I'm flameproof as I'm wearing asbestos knickers and I'm certainly not a first or last time poster.

[Toto2Kansas]

One thing we have learned about sailing on ships the last 15+ years is that you must roll with the punches. YES, things do occasionally go wrong onboard. But I have also met those that once something does not go according to plans, they have a fit and mope about it for the rest of the sailing, just looking for something else to complain about.

Bad flights are not a great way to begin a cruise, but they do happen, it's just the way things go with travel in these times. Some let something like this spoil their entire vacation, others just look at it as an experience and go on from there.

With the OP being told (as she says) before they even booked that Princess is not that great by her TA, well, that alone would give some reason to look for any and all problems.

Agreed, the OP did run into some major trouble onboard, but I still don't understand why this was not handled immediately. The only reason I have seen problems not addressed properly is when the passenger throws such a hissy fit that they don't even want to deal with them. No, this is not right and they shouldn't ignore problems, but we are all human and the staff has their limits as do we.

If the OP honestly hasn't sailed on Princess for the last 10-15 years, there could have possibly been some type of mix up with them not recognizing them as Platinum members. This is the only thing I can think of that would not get them free internet. If they did not provide proof of other Princess sailings years ago, they are not equiped to research this onboard the ship and it should have all been taken care of long before they sailed.

Just speculating a bit here, but trying to think of just WHY some of this might have taken place.

[Sue K]

doliver - aren't you clever and witty - I almost laughed. The only reason I mentioned the Ceasar salad is to point out how things have changed.

 

spongerob - I did not say it was five years since our last cruise - where did you get that idea? It sounds to me like you work for Princess.

 

I'm old enough to remember the Sitmar Cruise line before it became Princess when a white gloved crew member would personally escort you to your cabin when you arrived. That went by the wayside ages ago. I also have some lovely crystal glasses with Princess etched on them that we received as gifts at earlier Captain's Circle cocktail parties when we were given "cocktails" and not rum punch that I swear did not contain any rum. The sad thing is these little special touches have been eliminated one by one as Princess got bigger and bigger. They have added things like special dining which really isn't special. The steakhouse additional charge is $15 a person (now remember you have already paid for your meal with the cruise). The steak wasn't any better than any Outback restaurant were you could probably have gotten the whole meal for $15 alone. The Italian restaurant's cover charge was $20 a person and you got a lot of food but none of it was as good as some of the Italian restaurants in our area - and a lot more expensive.

 

You all think Princess is wonderful, so guess my standards are higher. I like five star hotels and restaurants. As our travel agent said, "Princess has become the Holiday Inn of cruising." And unfortunately it has. Most of you probably think the Holiday Inn is amazing.

 

As far as our travel agent is concerned, this is the first time we used Orbitz and we got more attention from him, at Orbitz, than we have ever gotten in the past on any of our cruises. Our regular travel agent closed her business and Princess no longer had the cabin available that we wanted, so my husband started calling around and found Orbitz had the cabin available we desired. We will go with this gentleman again! Orbitz has a special department that only books cruises and he was very knowledgable. He had us send copies of our letters to Princess to him so he could share them with everyone in the department. When we originally booked our cruise with him he asked us if we were sure we wanted to go with Princess but did not put up a big arguement as we were obviously Princess fans at this point. He tells us that Celebrity is trying to be the lst class cruise line of the industry and we will go with Celebrity next time. We will also use this gentleman again at Orbitz as he is good.

 

We took our entire family - three kids and spouses and five grandchildren on a Disney Cruise last year. It was wonderful - and the service was unbelieveable!! Now that's a cruise line! But I would not cruise with them without children (or grandchildren) because that's what they are geared to and there are tons of kids on board. Also, they do not have the itineraries that other lines do.

 

Although our cruise was the cruise from hell (I haven't even begun to tell you everything that went wrong), my husband and I decided we would not let it spoil our vacation and we tried not to, although it was difficult when we kept stepping on broken glass in our cabin days into the cruise when we hadn't broken anything (found six pieces altogether). Also because the room steward always forgot to replace our water glasses with clean ones, my husband had to run down to a bar every evening to get clean glasses for drinking water so we could have a drink of water before we went to bed, etc., etc., etc. We tried to have a good time but it wasn't easy. We enjoyed the places we went and the things we did at each port. We just didn't like the ship that took us there!!

 

The thing that has been hardest to handle is the apathy we are getting from Princess. We have written them three times with things that we have found, even after we got home, such as the wrong shipboard credit, etc. Each time we got a form letter back saying in essence "sorry you had problems but that's life, hope you cruise with us again." We will not!

 

Keep loving Princess everyone and keep booking those cruises, but I will keep looking for those letter of discontent that are sure to follow.

[stellalimelight]

SueK

 

Sorry you had a bad trip. May I suggest Radisson Seven Seas. The Paul Gauguin is a small ship approx 320 passengers, crew of 220. I believe you can find the service you are looking for. They all but lick you feet. The service is fantastic. I believe part of your problems with the cruise is that times have changed and service is not always what it used to be. However, I since I have worked in customer service for 35 years, I usually find that I find the one person smiling the most and bother them gently for help. I have never sailed on princess before but am looking forward to it. I do not expect the same service as on the Paul Gauguin because of the vast different in the size of the ships, but I am sure it will be great. I think your travel agent did a disservice by making a comment ahead of time and may have placed a little bug in your head. However, that aside, I make the best of everything as you do, however I go in with a happy go lucky attitude and it usually helps me along. I just like getting away from it all.

[SchoolBob]

Just an FYI, which is irrespective of the rest of the post from the OP.

 

When I called to book my cruise for Oct. I called a few places, including Orbitz. The Orbitz rep told me that I should avoid Princess because they are about to go out of business. Obviously, this was a complete fabrication. However, hearing the OP's comments about Orbitz, I wonder if their commissions vary, based on the line booked, etc. Just a thought.

[NormanW]

Send them to me via email.

 

If you cannot find it send them to:

 

commando@moparparts.net.

 

Cheers,

 

Norman

[stellalimelight]

Just an FYI, which is irrespective of the rest of the post from the OP.

 

When I called to book my cruise for Oct. I called a few places, including Orbitz. The Orbitz rep told me that I should avoid Princess because they are about to go out of business. Obviously, this was a complete fabrication. However, hearing the OP's comments about Orbitz, I wonder if their commissions vary, based on the line booked, etc. Just a thought.

 

I used to be a travel agent and yes commissions vary. I never stopped anybody from booking anything they wanted and it was a rare day that I would say something about a particular line. There are some travel agents/companies that book with the airlines/cruises etc that give them better commissions, but find this few and far between

[jimneycrkit]

I enjoy 5 star hotels and restaurants all the time. I would never stay at a Holiday Inn but I will cruise on Princess. It is not a luxury cruise line and never said it was. You get what you pay for. I like bargains and cruise several times a year. I also have cruised on Crystal and I hope you stay away from them as I would not want you to have to pay the 6.00 service charge they charge for their extra restaurants. Please take a Celebrity cruise, after reading about all the recent complaints on their boards because they were bought by RCCL I am sure you will not be satisfied either.

Question what day did you actually board the ship, did you pick it up the at the next port or made the ship in time for it to take off. If you left the first night on the ship then you pay for that day. If you had to go onto the next port then you would have a claim, but missing a buffett at lunch doesn't count as missing a day.

[M&M CRUZERS]

Been reading this thread and makes me wonder. We have sailed Princess since Sitmar was bought by them, mid 1970's. Wow!! so they don't make the salads at the table anymore. That's so sad!!! It really just fascinates me that its always the food that people have the most complaints regarding. I personally cruise for the entire experience -- eating is not my no. 1 reason, for sure. And it's now been about 10-15 years since we had any kind of past passenger gift, and we have 12 past cruises with Sitmar/Princess and are sailing on 8/27 to Alaska. How many glasses with a ship on them can you take home? Oh, I take that back, on a Christmas cruise in 1997, we were given a Christmas card signed by the Captain. It has been years since we received past passenger gifts.